PRESS DIGEST - New York Times business news - July 22

July 22 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in the New York Times business pages on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* Bank examiners from the Federal Reserve and the Comptroller of the Currency are inspecting the books of the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies, Fannie Mae FNM.N and Freddie Mac FRE.N, as the Bush administration prods Congress to approve a plan that would enable it to inject billions of dollars into the companies.

* Ford Motor Co (F.N), which devoted itself for nearly 20 years to putting millions of Americans into big pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles, is about to drastically alter its focus to building more small cars.

* In a clinical trial, the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin did not help people with heart-valve disease avoid further heart problems but did appear to increase their risk of cancer, scientists reported Monday.

* Yahoo Inc's (YHOO.O) board and management earned a reprieve after a weekend deal ended a bruising and acrimonious fight for control of the company with Carl Icahn, the activist investor. In the deal, announced on Monday, Icahn agreed to drop his proxy bid to replace Yahoo's directors in exchange for three seats on an expanded board.

* TiVo Inc (TIVO.O) will introduce a "product purchase" feature on Tuesday in partnership with the Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O).

* A federal appeals court threw out on Monday a $550,000 fine that the Federal Communications Commission imposed on CBS Corp (CBS.N) for a "wardrobe malfunction" at its 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that briefly exposed the singer Janet Jackson's breast.

* Apple Inc (AAPL.O), which has become the third-largest personal computer maker in the United States, benefited from the significant market share gains of its Macintosh computer line as well as its continued domination of the digital music player business, in its third quarter.

* Russia's prime minister and former president, Vladimir Putin, instructed his government on Monday to restore the Czech Republic's flow of oil, reduced after the Czechs signed an agreement with the United States to base a missile defense radar on their territory.

* The European Union began crucial global trade talks Monday with an offer of reducing its farm tariffs by 60 percent - the highest figure it has yet offered - in a challenge to developing countries to make concessions.

* After so much bad news from the nation's financial industry, Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) heartened Wall Street on Monday with quarterly profits that easily surpassed analysts' gloomy forecasts.